Well you can add another list to the list. U.S. News & World Report has just named Nashville on its list of America's Best BBQ Cities.

And Music City has some pretty lofty company on the list - Memphis, Central Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina - all places that are considered the barbecue capitols of the world.

A couple of years ago, when we did our rundown of Nashville's barbecue joints, we set out to answer the question of whether Nashville is a great barbecue town. What's funny is that we never really explicitly answered the question. Maybe you can infer your own answer based on my reviews. By volume, I think Nashville is a major league barbecue town - there are a LOT of barbecue restaurants in this city. And like the U.S. News blurb says, there is a lot of variety. But as for quality (and more importantly - consistent quality)? I think we're a long way from the Memphises and the Kansas Citys of the world.

Nashville's current food scene is dyanamic, and I think we're in an exciting time. Things are changing and there are people who are committed to greatness and to doing things the right way. The future is bright and only getting brighter, and I think barbecue can be a part of that. But at the same time, barbecue, more than many other cuisines, is very rooted in tradition. And I'm not sure that Nashville has the foundational bedrock of tradition that many of the other great barbecue cities have on which to build.

Speaking of new places, we'll soon have reviews of some of the new barbecue restaurants that have sprung up in Music City. So stay tuned...